Onder

On every world there are always those deemed truly wretched. It doesn't always matter that such a person might have a good, even heroic heart. The mongelman rogue known as Onder matches this mold perfectly.

Physical Description

Body Features

Once very handsome, the experiments that led to his current condition left him misshapen and hideous. The left side of his face was his original human features, but the right side had the features of a bugbear.
His body also had the same strange mixture of racial features. His right hand was a sharp reptilian claw similar to that of a green dragon. He also had a hunchback similar to that of a gnoll.

Apparel & Accessories

Onder dressed in very simple, but well-made clothing to avoid attracting attention. He also wore simple studded leather and carried a worn short sword for protection. All of this was mostly covered by the heavy cloak he wore at all times to hide his monstrous features.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Onder was born in Noctera, the capital of the Magister of Dusk of Talran. Even though he was the son of a mere tailor, his artistic gifts led to him earning the respect to the arcane upper class.
From a very young age he was close with the daughter of one such mage, and as they grew older their relationship became only closer. When her father discovered the relationship, he did not approve of his daughter's love for a mere painter. He sent her away far to the north to the Mandian city of Whiteriver.
As soon as he discovered this, Onder collected all the money he could to make the journey to Whiteriver, himself. When he arrived, his love was nowhere to be found. In a near panic, he immediately began to investigate her whereabouts.
This investigation didn't get very far. He soon met a stunning elven mage named Velsarra Til'vere. She bewitched him with her magic, and he spent several joyous days happily serving her every desire, forgetting all about the woman he had come to Whiteriver to find.
Unbenknownst to him, the elf witch had plans for her victim. She had been interviewing him in secret during the time they had spent together, and determined that he would not be missed if he disappeared. This made him an ideal test subject.
The next few months were nothing short of a living nightmare for Onder. He was subjected to numerous painful transformations over and over again. He was kept in a secret laboratory for weeks without seeing the light of day, and feeling his body growing increasingly twisted. When she could gain no more utility from him, she used her magic to put him to sleep and dumped him, still-living into the the sewers.
Now a hideous wretch, Onder needed to struggle on the fringes of society merely to survive. He needed to steal to eat more days than not, and needed to hide or face violence just walking down the street. Thus, he grew very talented at passing without being seen. It was this very talent that attracted the attention of a party of adventurers. This group didn't care about the man's deformities, as they even travelled openly with a gnoll, the young mage Ratagar of Rall.
He travelled with them only reluctantly, and then only because he was tired of living off of scraps. He went with them and eventually met their patron, a hag named Granny Pots. She sweetly demanded that he comply with the wishes of Ratagar, and even offered him a cure for his condition.
The group went on many adventures and helped a great many people, but Onder still feared Granny Pots and wanted a cure independent of the hag's promise. The group managed to track down Velsarra, and Onder begged her to cure him.
She was far from cooperative. The woman had long since succeeded in her plan to create physically superior and loyal troops, and she considered her failures to be a loose end. She ordered her troops, the verbeeg to slay the man where he stood. The party barely escaped with their lives, armed with the knowledge that she desired the death of all mongrelmen.
In response, Onder warned his fellow failed experiments and continued his investigation of Velsarra. He discovered that she intended her army of giants for use against her home city of Veille. He was also shocked to discover that his lover of old was also taken by the mage, and that she did not survive the madwoman's experiments.
The party opposed Velsarra until they eventually gained the upper hand, as well as the experience needed to strike at her directly. As a wizard, it was Ratagar's job to confront her. Unwilling to leave his friend without help, Onder gathered the other mongrelmen. The duel between the wizards exhausted the woman's magic, only for her to be killed by the failed subjects of her wicked experiments.
When their enemy lay dead at their feet, Granny Pots appeared, as if from nowhere to congratulate them on their victory. She then revealed that she orchestrated the entire series of events as part of a petty, centuries-old grudge against the nation of Talran. She then took Velsarra's form and took control of the dead woman's fanatical army.
The party members all revealed to Ratagar that they were all threatened into following him. The gnoll swore to stop the hag and absolved his companions of any need to aid him. Onder readily joined him, stating that he would gladly sacrifice all hope for a cure to stop the mad creature.
In the company of Ratagar, Onder finally returned to his old homeland. He expected to find it a warren of infighting, but he didn't think it would be so bad that their armies would be so near to immediate defeat. He served to lead a resistance in a guerrilla war while Ratagar rallied the still-infighting mages.
The war went very well until they cornered the hag beneath the Talran Academy of Magic. In a forgotten laboratory, they confronted her. While the gnoll readied his magic, Granny Pots restored Onder to his human form. She even conjured a mirror showing him his restored self and promised him that if he would fight Ratagar the change would be permanent.
Though the man was sorely tempted to take her offer, he couldn't fight against his friend. They fought against her together, easily defeating her despite the forgotten magic she harnessed. When she fell dead, Onder's body returned to its hideous shape.
Onder said goodbye to Ratagar when he returned to his own home and retired from adventuring. This left him unsure of what to do. He had a great deal of wealth, but he still remained an outcast.
He used his wealth to anonymously hire builders to create a town far from all civilization. He led his fellow mongrelmen there to live in peace, untouched by the cruelty of the world. From there, the town vanished.
Few knew of this place at all, and those who did are unsure of its fate. Most assume it was simply destroyed by what verbeeg remained. Although legends whisper that Cenneren, the goddess of peace took the town into her care that none might harm those who have already suffered enough.

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Species

Mongrelman

Circumstances of Death

Disappeared

Birthplace

Noctera

Gender

Male

Eyes

Hazel (left), Yellow (right)

Hair

Black (left), Brown (right)

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale

Height

5 ft 8 in

Weight

175 lbs